Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza wins the 2024 Island Prize

Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Island Prize in recognition of his debut novel Freelance. The thriller is a story about the cost of corruption, unchecked power, and the struggles for power in complex political landscapes. 

 

Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza

Set in 2019 in Zimbabwe, it follows Omar Warsame Mohamed, a Somali-American freelance investigative reporter from Minnesota. As a child, Omar fled the civil war in Somalia and lived as a refugee in Zimbabwe alongside his friend Edgar Antonio. Now an established journalist, Omar receives a cryptic Facebook message from Edgar, who works as a truck driver for Rossiya Fert, a large Russian fertilizer company operating in Zimbabwe. Before Omar can meet with Edgar in Zimbabwe, he receives devastating news – Edgar has been found dead in an apparent suicide. 

 

It's an absolute honour to have my debut novel recognized and celebrated in such a prestigious manner. From the depths of my heart, I want to express my sincere thanks to every one of you who believed in me and my work. - Simbarashe Kundizeza

The Island Prize is a literary prize that has been curated with the primary aim of helping African writers break into the UK publishing scene. It was founded by Booker-longlisted author Karen Jennings. The prize is open to unpublished debut novelists from all African countries or the diaspora. 

Simbarashe Kundizeza is a Harare-based writer whose previous publishing credits include short stories in the 2018 Africa Book Club Short Story Competition anthology and Transition Magazine Issue 131. 

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